Ministry of War

Ministry of War is a 2D browser based strategy game with real time combat and four playable civilizations. Build up an empire throughout the ages while making alliances and waging war with neighbors. Fight for supremacy in Ministry of War!

Ministry of War Overview

Ministry of War hopes to take the browser based strategy genre to the next level. The game is developed by Snail Game, the same Chinese studio behind Heroes of Gaia. MoW boasts real-time combat where players can battle other users, or computer controlled opponents. Chose from four ancient civilizations and progress from the Wild Age to the Imperial Age. Like Travian, Ministry of War has an end-game goal. After one civilization conqueors the rest, they will be declared the winner and a new age will begin. With a huge world to explore, oceans to sail, and tons of gamepaly features to experience, Ministry of War is defiently one of the most impressive free to play browser based strategy games.

Civilizations - Rome, Egypt, Persia, China

Ministry of War Screenshots

Ministry of War Featured Video

Full Review

Ministry of War Full Review

By Jaime Skelton

Build a nation from the untamed, savage land to a prosperous, booming empire: this is what Ministry of War, published by Snail Games USA, promises. Similar in nature to other games such as Lord of Ultima, Tribal Wars, or Travian, Ministry of War sets itself apart through the use of world domination. While you want to grow your nation, Ministry of War adds a unique twist by also allowing players to “beat” the game by banding with their fellows to conquer their enemies. While not perfect, Ministry of War does remarkably well to set itself apart by offering a unique, progression-based system.

Entering a Savage Age

Character creation in Ministry of War is fairly simple. You choose from one of four historical kingdoms – Persia, Egypt, Rome or China – and select one of four or five preset faces of either gender to create your starting hero. The kingdom you choose also has an impact; different units and bonuses to production exist between the four civilizations. Leveling up your heroes allows you to further customize your abilities as you see fit. Aside from the four primary attributes of power, command, physique, and intelligence, you are able to choose which skills your hero learns along the way.

Once you’ve created a character and have entered the game, you’re launched right into a tutorial on how the game operates. The tutorial teaches how to build and upgrade structures, as well as soldier recruitment and combat. This tutorial is both simple and in-depth, allowing new players to easily grow accustomed to the systems.

Reinventing the Wheel

The game controls do take some getting used to. Unlike many RTS games, you do not scroll the screen by moving your mouse to the edges of the field; you must click and drag the window around in order to pan the screen. Additionally, control during combat sequences is often clunky and non-responsive when it comes to targeting your enemies, leading to unnecessary loss while you struggle to attack the correct target.

The interface may seem cluttered at times; however, having everything readily available is also a very nice touch. Knowing you can access almost every menu from the main window helps you control the flow of the game considerably. Additionally, many features are available in multiple locations, which allows you to make quick decisions as well as careful planning.

Know Yourself; Know Your Enemy …

The combat system is fast-paced with detailed animation, but suffers from aforementioned targeting issues. Against a player, this can be quite disastrous. The game does have an auto battle feature that will use the game’s AI to fight for you. While this will suffice against most NPC opponents, it’s a quick way to lose against other players. It’s best to practice against the computer in manual mode to ensure you are prepared to PvP.

Drive Your Enemies Before You!

Ministry of War focuses on the PvP aspect of the game – called CvC, or Civilization v. Civilization. Unless you spend a lot of money on items from the cash shop to prevent other players from attacking you, there will be conflict. The first type of PvP combat comes in the form of plundering, in which players attack another city to gain resources. During a plunder, you have to contend with that city’s defenses, and any allies called to help. In this case, allies may be as simple as someone seeing your invading force and wiping you out.

The second form of conflict is the large scale battle of the four civilizations to conquer the world. The more areas your civilization controls, the larger the bonus your civilization’s cities receive. When you’re well and able to venture out in these wars, it pays to do so for the rest of your civilization on a whole. If your civilization manages to capture all 50+ zones, you’ve won, and the world will restart on that server.

The third form of PvP in the game is the Arena – a one v. one skirmish between you and another player. Fights are determined randomly, so you may face overwhelming odds, or you may face an easy opponent. Win or lose, you gain rewards in the arena: experience and arena badges. Winning consecutively in the arena also increases the experience awarded. Badges are used to buy random equipment for your hero.

Travelling Across the Ages

Quests are fairly typical for an MMORTS; most tasks are simple develop a specific technology or building to certain level. Others involve getting a hero to a higher level. All tasks award resources,and there are many tasks available as you build your empire. There are times, however, where the upgrading process to complete the quest seems to take too long. Additionally, some buildings take a lot of resources (most commonly the hero monuments, which take – pardon the pun – monumental amounts of gold to complete) to the point where it may take hours to days to complete a task.

The benefit of the task system as it exists in the game, however, is it guides you to each new age in your kingdom. The tasks you get in the Savage Age directly guide you to advancement to the Dark Age. Likewise, the Dark Age tasks progress you to the Feudal Age, and onwards to Castle and Empire Ages as well. Progressing through these ages earns access to new buildings and troops. This lends a natural flow to the game, and generally ensures you’re advancing properly to protect yourself from your opponents.

Swords to Plowshares

Ministry of War offers a rather unique system with influence. By utilizing missionaries and praying at religious sites, your culture gains influence. In turn, influence helps your city’s production levels, allowing you to construct buildings and upgrades faster. In addition, your missionaries act as heroes in their own right, and they also level up and develop their own skills.

Likewise, you can be a trade prince if you so choose. By developing merchants, you can gain vast amounts of wealth and resources, which you can use to trade amongst your Civilization, or utilize to build your own cities further. Merchants can also be leveled up like heroes, allowing them to be more successful in their dealings.

Let Us Band Together

Despite being a PvP game, we found Ministry of War to be quite social. Much of our time spent in game was filled with discussion from other people online in the civilization. This interaction was beyond simple hellos – many times, other players were informing fellows of opportune targets to strike, or warning against invaders on their way. It was a refreshing camaraderie not found very often in similar RTS games.

Minimum Deposit Required

One thing to be aware of, however, is a slight reliance on cash shop items in order to do well. The shop offers several bonuses, such as increased production speeds, additional troop recruitment slots, instant HP/MP restoration and better hero recruitment. Increased speed alone will make a large difference in advancement versus being constantly raided. You receive a fair amount of cash shop items as you complete tasks; proper timing in their use can also be quite advantageous.

Overall Rating: Good

Ministry of War is a fairly polished game, though it has a few rough edges to be addressed. Character creation is simple and effective, and the tutorial teaches you exactly what you need to do to start your empire. The game enforces its PvP nature through various systems, particularly through world conquest. While manual combat needs some improvements, it is better than many other RTS games’ formulaic battle systems. The reliance on cash shop purchases later on to be competitive does hinder a true free-to-play experience. If you’re a fan of other browser-based RTS games, you owe it to yourself to give Ministry of War a look.